How green is your pharmacy?

Healthcare has a significant carbon footprint, accounting for 4.4 per cent of global CO2 emissions, while in England the NHS accounts for 4 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. Medicines account for 25 per cent of emissions within the NHS, of which 79 per cent are prescribed in primary care and community services.

The NHS aims to reach its net zero target by 2040, with an 80 per cent reduction by 2028-2032. Northern Ireland has the same target, Wales is aiming for 95 per cent reduction by 2050 and Scotland for net zero by 2045.

Minna Eii, co-founder of Pharmacy Declares, a group of climate conscious pharmacy professionals, says: “The most important way that community pharmacists can get involved in reducing the environmental impact of the supply and use of medicines is to educate themselves about the environmental issues and impacts they have on healthcare. Making these changes isn’t just good for the environment - they are beneficial for patient health too and can also save pharmacists money on things like energy bills. Ultimately, a more sustainable pharmacy business will attract more customers.”

Elen Jones, RPS director for Wales, comments: “We know that medicines account for around 25 per cent of carbon emissions within the NHS. That means for us as pharmacists and the wider pharmacy team, we have a leading role to play in making medicines use more sustainable.”

Nuala Hampson, pharmacy lead at the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, says: “Most importantly, we can help prevent disease and the need for medicines in the first place by providing health education, disease prevention advice, screening and vaccination."

Greener Pharmacy Guide and Toolkit

The RPS was commissioned by NHS England to develop guidance to help community and hospital pharmacy teams across the UK to reduce the impact of pharmacy services and medicines on the environment.

The RPS Greener Pharmacy Guide and digital self-assessment Greener Pharmacy Toolkit will enable pharmacy teams to assess their impact and improve through evidence-based actions and activities. The Guide is available now on the RPS website, while the digital Toolkit will be launched this spring.

Elen Jones, director lead for the RPS Environmental Sustainability programme, says: “We want to support teams to identify areas where they can make sustainable changes to decrease the environmental impact of the services and clinical care they provide.”

The Guide is divided into six domains: People, Clinical Practice, Travel, Resource use, ICT and Operations & Strategy. Each domain is divided into three levels: easy, moderate and hard. For example, in Domain 2: Clinical Practice, a level 1 action includes: “Routinely ask patients to check their medication in pharmacy bags before leaving the pharmacy to prevent return of incorrect or unwanted items.” A level 2 action includes: “Pharmacy staff promote safe and environmentally friendly disposal of all unwanted and used inhaler devices by engaging in discussions with all patients/carers or representatives.” A level 3 action includes: “Enrol pharmacy settings in available recycling schemes.”

The Toolkit allows pharmacy staff to track their progress on each of the six domains and to work from levels 1 to 3. They can display the accreditation once achieved. It helps pharmacists to self-assess their goals by uploading images, submitting evidence and writing reflections. Pharmacies are then awarded a badge of their green achievement level – bronze, silver or gold.

Climate change and health

The RPS has joined leading health organisations across the UK to call on the Government to take more action to protect nature for the benefit of the nation’s health. This comes on the back of a policy report from the UK Health Alliance on Climate Change (UKHACC) : Biodiversity, Climate Change and Health.

The report focuses on seven key areas where we all need to increase action to prevent further harm to health caused by loss of nature. Among these include calls to reduce plastic waste by banning the production and sale of unnecessary plastic items, along with efforts to incentivise reusing, recycling and the production of alternative compostable materials.

Commenting on the alliance, Jones at the RPS said: “Building on our 2021 initiatives, our full membership in UKHACC allows us to build on our commitment to climate action within pharmacy and healthcare more widely. A specific role that community pharmacy teams can undertake to protect our nature is to take every opportunity to remind patients about appropriate disposal of their medicines.”